Davis Cup: Czech Republic victorious as Stepanek/Pavlasek beat Bopanna/Paes in straight sets
The Czech pair of Radek Stepanek and Adam Pavlasek have taken victory at the RK Khanna stadium in New Delhi. The partners won in straight sets – 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, beating an in-form Leander Paes, who is fresh off two back-to-back Grand Slam mixed doubles victories with partner Martina Hingis.
The contest between the Czech Republic and India is currently at 2-1, with Yuki Bhambri losing his match against world no. 85 Lukas Rosol on Friday morning 2-6 1-6 5-7. Following the straight sets victory, however, the Indian squad had some respite as Somdev Devvarman took on his much higher ranked competitor Jiri Vesely, who is 40th in the ATP rankings. Devvarman himself is at 164, and took just under 3 hours to take the upset to its culmination.
Guwahati-born Devvarman took the weekend contest to 1-1 with each team taking one win, but Paes/Bopanna’s loss today means that the Czech team now lead 2-1 with two matches to go. Jiri Vesely, who was upset by Devvarman, will take on Yuki Bhambri, while Devvarman himself will take on Lukas Rosol, who beat Bhambri in the first match of the 3-day playoff.
Paes and Bopanna were playing together for the first time since playing the team from Serbia in their Davis Cup. At the time, they had beat Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic in the tournament, which was hosted in Bangalore.
The Indian team committed several unforced errors which would ultimately cost them the match, and yesterday’s winner Devvarman had predicted that although the Indian pair were higher-ranked, they were the underdogs going into the match.
Czech Republic are the top-ranked team in the Davis Cup, with India significantly lower at 21st position.